iObfuscate: Unraveling iOS Obfuscation Techniques

Explore a comprehensive conference talk that delves into iOS obfuscation techniques and their countermeasures, presented by Microsoft Reverse Engineer Laurie Kirk at Objective-See Foundation. Learn about the various methods iOS malware developers employ to hide malicious payloads, from basic static techniques like value encryption and identifier renaming to sophisticated runtime protection mechanisms. Discover how control-flow obfuscation works to prevent analysis by human analysts and decompilers, and understand the implementation of debugging and tampering checks for runtime security. Gain practical insights through code-based examples demonstrating each methodology, and access custom Ghidra scripts designed specifically for deobfuscating iOS binaries. Master the complexities of iOS security architecture while understanding both the defensive mechanisms developers implement and the techniques security researchers use to analyze protected applications.